Editorial: Federal government delays hinder our rights

May 13, 2010

Ten oldest federal information requests

Jan. 31, 1987: James D. Sanders asked the National Security Council for documents related to U.S. prisoners of war in Laos, China, Vietnam and the Soviet Union. After four years, the request was transferred to the Defense Department.May 29, 1987: The National Security Archive asked the Central Intelligence Agency for documents relating to the Jonathan Pollard spy case. Pollard was a former U.S. Naval intelligence officer convicted of being an Israeli agent and in 1986 received a life sentence for espionage. March 3, 1988: Author Jeffrey Richelson asked the National Security Council for copies of five presidential review memoranda. The request was transferred to the Defense Department in 1990.Early 1989: Then-graduate student William Aceves made four substantially identical requests to the Defense Department pertaining to the Freedom of Navigation program.Nov. 22, 1989: The Syracuse, N.Y., Post-Standard newspaper asked the CIA for records pertaining to the bombing of Pan American Flight 103 and terrorist threats at the Frankfurt, Germany, airport.January 1990: William Burr of the National Security Archive made two requests to the Air Force for information on the Berlin crisis in 1958 and 1959.March 9, 1990: Burr asked the National Archives and Records Administration for specific Joint Chiefs of Staff documents relating to Berlin in 1959-62.July 16, 1990: The Natural Resources Defense Council asked the Energy Department for documents related to the Radiological Warfare Study Group established in February 1948 by the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, as well as documents related to a panel on radiological warfare that met in May 1948.Jan. 7, 1991: Richelson asked the CIA for a copy of the CIA response to National Security Decision Directive 112.Feb. 25, 1991: A New York law firm, Windels, Marx, Davies & Ives, asked the CIA for information regarding intelligence received in 1988 relating to terrorist plans to attack Frankfurt, Heathrow or Gatwick airports, information regarding specific individuals possibly related to the incident and documents relating to the technical details of the bombing of Pan American Flight 103.Source: National Security Archive

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Already bad and getting even worse. That's the state of getting information from the federal government.

The Freedom of Information Act guarantees that citizens have the right to receive information from their government simply by asking for it. The only exceptions are supposed to be records that involve national security or private information about an individual or business.

But delays have become commonplace and are getting more frequent. That's a disservice to the American public.

According to an analysis of annual FOIA reports between 1998 and 2005, the number of records requests pending at the federal government's 15 executive agencies increased 24 percent in the 2004 fiscal year over the previous year — to 147,810. Nine of those agencies had increased backlogs of unfilled requests. The agencies' median response time ranges from three months to more than four years.

The analysis also found that the FBI, CIA and Defense departments continued a trend of releasing a decreasingly lower percentage of requested records. The FBI gave complete information to just six out of every 1,000 applicants in 2005, down from 50 out of 1,000 in 1998. And the CIA released complete information in 11 percent of 2004 requests, down from 44 percent in 1998.

Though the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks surely play a role in that decrease — as did a policy by then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft that agencies more carefully consider national security issues when deciding whether to release a record — the AP found that it actually has been decreasing for at least the last seven years.

In December, President Bush issued an executive order that called for agencies to streamline requests and appoint chief FOIA officers in each agency. But the agencies have been — no surprise — slow to respond.

It all shows that the federal government doesn't take the Freedom of Information Act seriously. That's why the public and Congress need to increase the pressure to make government agencies abide by the law.

Those are our requests they're delaying or ignoring. Those are our rights they're casting aside.